Feeding device



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Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE FEEDING DEVICE Joseph A. Ball, Los Angeles, Calif. Original application August 20, 1931, Serial No.

558,193. Divided and this application April 21,

1933, Serial No. 667,222

7 Claims.

ply reels through a camera of this nature and for' again winding them on conveniently arranged take-up reels; to provide an arrangement for such a camera which permits easy threading of a plurality of films and assures steady progress of the films through the camera along short and uncomplicated paths. Further objects are to provide a smooth and equalized drive for the film movements which also permits adjustment of the movements without affecting the drive, an improved gear arrangement for driving the various moving parts of the camera, and generally to provide a camera for taking motion pictures in natural colors which can be easily and conveniently operated and which permits efiicient commercial production of motion picture films 30 under conditions similar to those required for the taking of ordinary motion picture negatives. Additional objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description of a typical concrete embodiment illustrated by drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan of a motion picture camera incorporating the present invention, with the cover removed and parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail of Fig. 1, with the gear housing removed;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the sprocket mechanism, viewed from the bottom of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section on line 1-1 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a front elevation similar to Fig. 6 but in the rear of the sprocket wheels;

Figs. 9, 10, and 11 respectively, are diagrammatic showings of the manner of threading the films;

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic tem; and

plan of the prism sysand exactly a plurality of films, some or all of Fig. 13 is a vertical longitudinal section showing film light seal and sprocket drive.

The herein disclosed embodiment of the present invention is incorporated in a camera the design of which is completely described in the above mentioned application Serial No. 558,193. This camera is adapted for taking photographs in natural colors according to the methods disclosed and claimed'in my Patent No. 1,889,030 of November 29, 1932, for Multicolor photography with bipacks, and in my copending application Serial No. 545,951 filed June 22, 1

931. This camera comprises a lens system L (Fig. 12) and a prism P with a partially reflecting mirror M and twoapertures in planes perpendicular to each other for exposing film G and superposed films B and R respectively. The various mechanisms of the camera are mounted within a sturdy housing in such a manner that the parts which require accurate positioning with respect to each other are combined in separate units which are structurally capable of maintaining the accuracy of position independently of other units and Which are separately accessible and adjustable, whereas parts Which do not require particular accuracy of assembly and operation are distributed in other units.

Referring especially to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the housing I, which is made of ribbed metal parts (preferably of light weight alloy a base 2 comprising a plate 3 and is built upon a gear box 6.

The gear box 6 has receptacles l for the connecting plug of a flexible shaft or other source of power for driving the various movements of the camera. The base plate and gear box are screwed together, threaded bosses 25 being provided for this purpose within the gear box casting. Inside the 'gear box is mounted a power distributing device. with various gears and a will later be described in detail flywheel which and on top of the gear box is mounted the central supporting block 5| for the. light splitting film movements, housing I33 (Fig. 2), both also system and the and the sprocket drive shaft to be described later) brackets l8 and I46 (Fig. 2) and a hollow extension 45 (Fig. 5) for supporting the sprocket roller mechanism (to be described later). The

front wall 2| shaft and another housing 23 shutter drive shaft;

forms a housing 22 for the shutter Fig. 2) for the The block 5I (Figs. 1 and 2), which supports the light-dividing prism system and the two film movements of the camera, is screwed directly to gear box 6. The block 5| has a main crosssection in the shape of an L, and the housing I34 for the drive shaft 2I8 is provided in the angle of this L-shaped support (Figs. 1, 2 and 4). The block 5| also has a prism bracket 55 (Fig. 1). The mutually perpendicular machined faces of flanges 53 and 54 and of bracket 55 correspond to the faces of the prism unit. The flanges 53 and 54 have vertical key ways 56 and 51 in their faces for positioning and adjusting the film movements, and also openings 58 and 59 (Fig. 4) for the bearings 248 and 249 of the film movement drive shafts hereinafter described. The film movements driven through gear wheels 12 and 10 (Fig. 4) are of any conventional design and therefore not described herein.

Referring especially to Figs. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 bracket I8 on rear wall I6 of the camera housing, supports a sprocket gear housing I3I. This housing encloses the spiral gear I32 which is mounted on shaft 2I8 ascending from the power distribution gear and protected at its lower part by shaft housing I33 (Fig. 2) screwed to gear box 6. Housing I3I, together with hearing plate I34 (Fig. 5) also supports sprocket shaft I35 (Fig. 5) by means of two tapered roller bearings I36 and I31. Within the housing I3I a gear wheel I38, which meshes with spiral gear I32, is fixed to shaft I35. Keyed to shaft I35 are three sprockets I4I, I42, and I43. Housing I3I and tubular extension I45 of rear wall I6 (Fig. 5) support, together with bracket I46 and its boss I44, a tube I41 upon which scissor units I5I, I52, I53, I54, I55, and I56 are rotatably mounted. Each scissor unit has a hub I60 (Figs. '1 and 8), a roller arm I6I, a segment arm I68 and a segment I69 (Fig. 5). Two adjacent units cooperate like the blades of a scissors, swinging with their hubs on tube I41, the hubs of two cooperating scissor units being at opposite sides of the arms with the roller arms intermediate thereof and the segment arms attached at about the middle of the hubs. Each of the roller arms I6I and I63 (Fig. 6), which are the upper arms belonging to sprockets HI and I42, supports, by means of pins I15, four rollers I1I, I12, I13, I14 and HI, 212, 213, 214, respectively, rollers I12, I13 and 212, 213, respectively, having the purpose of holding the film against the sprockets, whereas rollers I1I, 2H and I14, 214, respectively, support the films as they leave the sprockets, as will later be described in detail. The lower roller arms I62 and I64 have only three rollers I16, I11, I19 and 216, 211, 218, respectively, arranged like upper rollers I12, I13, I14, 212, 213, and 214. The upper roller arm I65 belonging to sprocket I43 has only three rollers I8I, I82, and I83 corresponding to rollers I1I, I12, and I13 of the upper roller arm I6I. Lower roller arm I66 which cooperates with upper roller arm I65 has two rollers I86 and I81 arranged similar to rollers I16 and I11 of roller arm I62. (Figs. 9, 10, and 11.)

The segments I69 fit with their circular fronts into the bulge I1 of rear wall I6 of the camera, and each segment has two perforations I88, I89 which are adapted to receive pins I98 of six control knobs I9I, I92, I93, I94, I95, and I96, one for each segment. Holes I88 correspond to the open or film releasing position of the roller arms, and perforations I89 to the closed or film engaging position thereof. By pulling back a control knob, the corresponding pin releases the perforations which it engaged, the segment and the roller arm can be rotated and the latter again arrested in its second position by releasing the control knob. The operation of the sprocket device, in cooperation with the films and the apertures will be described hereinafter.

The camera comprises three different power driven units, namely, the aperture unit with two film feeding movements, the film sprocket and take-up spool drive, and the shutter drive. In order to make the various drives properly accessible and easily and independently adjustable, a power distribution gear is arranged in gear box 6 (described hereinbefore), and the three units are independently driven by three shafts vertically ascending therefrom. The distribution gear comprises bearings 200, 20I, 202, 203, 204, 205, and 206 (Fig. 3) attached to the top of the gear box and three shafts 201, 209, 209. Shafts 208 and 209 are connected with shaft 201 by spiral gears 2H and 2I2. Each of these three shafts 201, 208 and 209 has a square end for coupling it with a flexible shaft or other driving device by means of receptacles 1 (as described before), which permits power supply from either side and from the back of the camera. Vertical shafts 2 l6, 2I1 and 2I8 are driven from shafts 201 and 209 by means of spiral gears 22I, 222 and 223. The

shafts 2I6, 2I1 and 2I8 respectively, are supported by thrust bearings 226, 221, 228, 23I, 232, 233 (Fig. 2) and run in oil-tight housings 23, I33 and I34, as described hereinbefore. The shutter drive shaft 2I6 drives a shutter shaft 231 over spiral gear 236, supported in housing 22 of front wall 2i by two tapered roller bearings 238 and 239, and accessible through cover screw 240 (Fig. 2). A shutter 45 of conventional design is mounted on an extension of shaft 231 which protrudes beyond the housing 22. The shutter rotates between lens system L and prism system P, partly in the housing formed by the halves 28 and 30 of front Wall and side door respectively, as described before.

In order to assure harmonious operation of the two film movements they are both driven from shaft 2 I 1 over a single spiral gear wheel 2 I0 meshing with two gear wheels 2 and 242 (Fig. 4). Shaft 2I1 runs in housing I34 of the main supporting block 5I in thrust bearings 221 and 232. Gear wheels 2M and 242 drive the two short film movement shafts 246 and 241 (Fig. i) which are supported in aperture flanges Bi and 82 by means of bearings 248 and 249. As described before, the aperture flanges 8i and 82, mounted on block flanges 53 and 54, are adjustable transversely and longitudinally of the block flanges and this adjustment is made possible by the peculiar arrangement of gears 2I0, MI and 242 whose mesh is not affected by such adjustments. Although the timing of the movements is very slightly affected thereby, the adjustment amounts ordinarily to only a few thousandths of an inch and its effect on timing is therefore negligible. These gears are enclosed in a cover 2 5i in the angle between the two main block flanges (Fig. l). The film movement gear wheels 210 and 212 are fixed to the other ends of shafts 241 and 246 respectively, and drive the registering and advancing pins, of the film movements, as described hereinbefore. Since the movements are intermittent in their action they require an intermittent flow of power supply which must be equalized by rotating masses. In order to prevent undesirable interferences between separate fiywheels for each movement, a single flywheel 250 is employed according to the present invention. Since it is mounted on shaft 2 I1, either within the gear box as shown in Fig. 2 or elsewhere, it acts upon both movements driven from the same shaft.

The sprocket drive shaft 2 I8 supported by thrust bearings 228 and 233 runs within housings I33 and I3I and drives the gear wheel I38 (Fig. 5) on shaft I35 by means of spiral gear I32. From pulley I39, also fastened to the sprocket shaft I35, a belt drive 252 leads through housing 43 (Fig. 2) to pulley 253 of the take-up spool gear which again drives in appropriate manner the three take-up spools for the three films which are mounted on a shaft (or on concentrical or parallel shafts) parallel to the sprocket shaft I35.

In order to thread the films, three film spools are inserted in magazine 65 on a shaft (not shown) which is substantially parallel to sprocket shaft I35, the ends of the films being secured to three take-up spools similarly arranged on shaft I58. The films are threaded between rollers 251, 252, and 253 of the light seal 49 so that the three film loops are now arranged parallel side by side. Assuming that the films are to be exposed as described before with reference to Fig. 12, the film B bearing the blue recording emulsion is next to side door 36 and above sprocket roll I lI, the film R with the red recording emulsion is in the center above sprocket roll I42 and the green recording film G is next to the sprocket drive above sprocket roll I43. The films are wound upon their spools in such a manner that the emulsions of films B and G face roller 25l, whereas the emulsion of film R faces roller 252. The scissor units are opened and kept in this position by knobs I9I to I96, which, during the threading operation, are consecutively moved into closed position where they are again arrested by the knob pins and segments. The films are threaded in the following manner. Each film is first inserted between rollers HI and I12, 21I, and 212, respectively, and I8I and I82, respectively (Figs. 9, 10, 11), and films B and R, after the sprocket pins are inserted into the film perforations, are brought out again between rollers I13 and I14 and 213 and 214, respectively, (Figs. 9 and Film G emerges between sprocket roll I43 and roller I83 (Fig. 11). Films B and R are now turned a quarter turn longitudinally, and a half turn laterally towards aperture plate 6| (Figs. 1 and 2), whereby the two films are superposed so that they form a single loop, and they are now threaded into the film gate, the two emulsions being in contact, with the blue sensitive film nearest toprism P, as shown in Fig. 12. Upon emerging from the film gate, the two superposed films B and R are again separated and returned to their sprocket wheels with loops converse of those between the upper rolls and the film gate. The films B and R are now introduced between rollers I11 and I18 and 211 and 218, respectively, their perforations engaged at the lower side of the sprocket rollers MI and I42, where they are secured by rollers I16 and I11 and 216 and 211, respectively, and brought out over the upper side of rollers HI and 21I, respectively. As described before the emerging films are threaded between rollers 252 and 253 of the light seal and are ready to be wound upon the three take-up spools in magazine 50, which are arranged on a shaft I58 similar to the spools in magazine 60 and driven from pulley 253.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a film sprocket, two arms rotatably mounted for independent movement on a common axis and extending from said axis over opposite sides of the periphery of said sprocket, two rollers mounted on each of said arms for engaging films along substantially opposite portions of said periphery, and means for independently arresting said arms with said rollers in film engaging and disengaging positions.

2. A film transporting device comprising a driven sprocket, and two scissor units cooperating therewith, each having a hub and a roller arm with rollers journaled thereon, the hubs being coaxially journaled for independent movement, and the rollers engaging substantially opposite portions of the sprocket if the arms are in closed position.

3. A film transporting device comprising a sprocket, two scissor units each having a hub, a control sector and a roller arm with rollers journaled thereon, the hubs being coaxially and independently journaled and the rollers engaging substantially opposite portions of the sprocket if the arms are in closed position, and means cooperating with said control sectors for independently arresting the scissor units in film engaging and disengaging positions.

4. Cinematographic apparatus comprising a housing, film sprockets journaled thereon, scissor units also journaled on said housing having rollers cooperating with said sprockets and control sectors fitting a bulge in said housing, and means in said housing releasably arresting said sectors with respect to said housing.

5. cinematographic apparatus comprising a housing, film sprockets journaled thereon, scissor units also journaled on said housing having rollers cooperating with said sprockets and control sectors fitting a bulge in said housing, pins mounted in said housing, and means for engaging and disengaging said sectors and said pins for holding said rollers in different positions relative to said sprockets.

6. cinematographic apparatus comprising a film sprocket for guiding portions of the supplied part and of the discharged part respectively of a film loop on substantially opposite sides of its periphery, two roller supports at said opposite sides, two rollers on one of said supports for holding said discharged part towards said sprocket, two rollers on the other support for holding said supplied part towards the sprocket, said roller supports being coaxially pivoted for independent movement thereof, and means for independently disengaging said supports and for independently holding them in disengaged positions.

'1. cinematographic apparatus comprising a film sprocket for guiding portions of the supplied part and of the discharged part respectively of a film loop on substantially opposite sides of its periphery, two roller supports at said opposite sides, two rollers on one of said supports for holding said discharged part towards said sprocket and three rollers on the other support, two of said three rollers holding said supplied part towards the sprocket and the third roller distancing said discharged part from said supplied part.

JOSEPH A. BALL. 

